NOW This… by Caitlin
NOW This… by Caitlin
Public Hearings: What are they and how do they work?
For nearly seven years I have reported diligently on a multitude of local board proceedings. Over the years I noticed that within the community there isn’t a clear understanding of how our municipal boards work. This kick-off piece will be one of several that aim to tackle some common misconceptions and generate more effective community involvement as Ellicottville continues to grow into the future.
Public hearings probably have the biggest misunderstanding attached to them. According to the New York Department of State, “A public hearing is an official proceeding of a governmental body or officer, during which the public is accorded the right to be heard.” Public hearings are vehicles for the community to voice their opinion on any number of projects/proposals that are heard by the boards.
A key misunderstanding occurs when people think this is a vote (i.e. if I get more people there in support of my side then the board will side in my favor.) Now, yes, the number of people and how strongly they feel is taken into consideration, but at the end of the day the board functions to look objectively at a project/proposal and see if it fits within the zoning rules and applicable review criteria. The purpose of the hearing is for the decision-making board to learn relevant information that they may not see in the application materials. By definition, “zoning is the act or process of partitioning a city, town, or borough into zones reserved for different purposes.” (Merriam-Webster, Online Edition, 2020). This means that our village and town are split up into different zoning districts and there are different regulations governing land use for each district. We will dive deeper into the types of districts that make up Ellicottville in future articles.
MEET OUR PLANNER
Back to the Public Hearing world … I recently caught up with our new, full-time planner Gary Palumbo to get some insight on public hearings. Palumbo came to this position after serving the last five years as the consulting planner to the Town and Village. “However, it is interesting to note that I was a Town employee throughout the 1990’s as the first professional planner in Ellicottville,” he said. Palumbo has a degree in regional planning from Penn State and worked for Genesee County and Suffolk County before coming to Ellicottville in 1990. “The past 20 years consulting in Western New York on both sides of the application process gave me a new view of the land development process.” This is just the type of perspective that the Town and Village is eager to have, and what warranted bringing Palumbo back on full-time.
BE IN THE KNOW
A common thing that I hear is that no one knew about a public hearing or they weren’t notified. If your property is within a certain limit, you will be notified. Otherwise, it is published in the local papers and on the ellicottvillegov.com website. You can always call Gary’s office at 716-801-3016 or email gary.palumbo@evlengineering.com and ask for application materials which are typically available for public review.
“If anyone has a question or would like to see the application materials, feel free to call. It is easier to make effective comments after you’ve seen the plans,” Palumbo emphasized. “The noticing timing and distances vary between type of permit and which board is holding the public hearing. However, generally, the landowners within either 100 feet or 200 feet receive the public hearing notice in the mail.”
With a large number of out-of-state and Canadian property owners, the town and village work hard to meet those requirements and consistently follow the distance and timing requirements consistently. In the future, to help broaden communication, Palumbo would like to use the Town and Village websites more in order to post things like applications, public hearing notices, agendas, and minutes.
GET INVOLVED
If you are reading this article with any interest and want to know how to get more involved, Gary says, “Come to a meeting. Get to know the people who are on the boards and serving in your community’s interest.” All Planning Board and ZBA meetings are public – even if there are no scheduled public hearings. The Chairperson will often give residents in the audience an opportunity to ask questions and in the age of COVID with online meetings, you can do this from the comfort of home, wherever that may be. “When public hearings are held on zoning amendments or updates to the comprehensive plan, there is an early opportunity to have your questions and comments heard – before changes in policy or regulations are adopted.”
Bottom line, don’t stop coming to meetings even if there isn’t a public hearing. Call and ask for an agenda to be sent to you. This is all public knowledge that we can access thanks to the Freedom of Information Law in New York State. It just takes a little question asking on the part of the resident. Continue to follow the papers that cover these topics and participate when your interest is piqued … This is how we continue to grow effectively as a community, through input and involvement.
Caitlin Croft is a resident of Ellicottville and team writer for ellicottvilleNOW. She works as a real estate agent for Keller Williams Realty, is the U19/16 Team coach at HoliMont, and sits on the Ellicottville Town Planning Board. She has a passion for Public Service and fighting for the best interests of her community. Proud member of Phi Alpha Delta.